The Certificate of Need section of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has denied the joint application of Raleigh-based Rex Healthcare and Franklin Regional Medical Center to move the hospital from Louisburg to Youngsville. The $103 million proposed hospital would have replaced an aging Louisburg facility. Critics of the move said the hospital relocation would move it away from the more rural and indigent parts of Franklin County, while advocates said the move would make it closer to the county's population center.